3.14.2012

fast, cheap and out of control

I did a major kitchen renovation over the last twenty four hours that cost me less than thirty bucks. It was totally out of control. Lookie here.

Last night I got a wild hair to finally tear down the aphid infested, dried up succulent vine that has graced the ceiling of our kitchen for almost a decade. It was fairly easy to do, but in the morning I was left with a little hole in my heart and a big void in our kitchen.

Here's what I was dealing with:

Before: The vine (and me) in better shape, circa 2007.

The vine in its last few hours, circa last night.

After: What was left this morning. So sad.

I had a momentary sense of emptiness upon arising this morning. But by the time I was trudging home in the rain after dropping Stella off at school I knew just what to do. A stop at the hardware store for four small metal shelf brackets, four medium metal shelf brackets, a 12" x 48" laminated board I had ripped at the store into two 4" x 24" and two 8" x 24" segments, and some screws, and I was in work mode.

By noon I was dealing with this, and with Oliver, who had a virus and a high fever, but was a good helper regardless:

And by four o'clock I was done:

Would I have liked to have waited and found some wonderful vintage cabinet or shelvery (NEW WORD ALERT!) for this area? Sure. But we aren't going to live here forever, and it's not ours to begin with, so this works to fill the void beautifully. Not to mention I desperately needed more storage. It's crazy. Forty eight hours ago I didn't have a clue I'd be embarking on this little project. Love it when inspiration takes over like that. It allows for no anticipation or dread over the workload, and I really appreciate that.

Although I dream of one day outfitting our kitchen in salvaged items that we hand pick ourselves, or in beautiful custom cabinetry that I design, it matters to me less what the shelf is made from than what is put upon it. No?

25 comments:

I love your crockery containers of things (I have a crock of Pixie Stix in my kitchen right now as I type!) and your assorted coffee paraphernalia! What a great quick do-over. I love those "I must do this right now!" projects - almost always turn out better than the ones we agonize over.

Oh, that was and uber-real-life messy counter shot! There is one glaring problem with the shelves, which is my Heath Ceramics items are now out in the open on smaller shelves instead of protected in cabinets, so the whole earthquake thing might ruin my whole spread. I'm going to get some clear rubber shelf liner tomorrow to try to protect everything from the "first jolt" of the next quake!

Thank you, Kathy! The lights have always been up there, in fact we never use the ceiling light, it doesn't even have a bulb. We just love those Xmas lights! I think it still needs a little work, maybe some artwork in some of the voids, but I'm pretty darn happy overall!

I love your shelves, your dishes, the jars, the twinkling lights! I think you were divinely inspired to come up with that! Sometimes it is difficult to take that first step to action. I know it was probably hard to give up the plant too. I love it! Love your blog too!

Hi Holly! Thank you! It was hard to give up the plant, but happily (and surprisingly) I have no regrets. When I was hacking it down I was really wondering what the heck I was doing, as I've always loved that vine. Now that it and all it's sticky aphids are gone, I wish I had done it a lot sooner.

I just went over to take a closer look at your blog. You have some fun and interesting stuff posted! I am absolutely spent right now, but will be back with my morning coffee in the next few days to peek around. :)

Hello Tiffanie, thank you very much for your lovely comments on my blog. I hope your lovely baby feels better today. I really enjoyed the new and the old style of your kitchen at the same time! :)In these days i'm also trying to move in a new house but it will be rental. I feel like "Calm down,this is not your own house,you don't have to pay much more for a wallpaper" etc. but it will be our (me and my future husband's) first home to live together and i want it to be the best...I know It's a dilemma and i don't know what to do,creating a better but more expensive home or a regular cheaper home?? but i'm sure that using twinkling lights in the kitchen really looks amazing to try at once!!

Hi Gulcin! My advice to you is just to see it as your home, even if it's temporary. We've had periods of time where we've lived in less than ideal arrangements in our place because we didn't want to waste money in case we moved. But when we realized we were going to be here for a while several years ago we started to really settle in and hang lots of art and make it our own. Congratulations to you, I can't wait to see your new place!

Hopped over here from AT, and have to say that I love your philosophy (and your kitchen looks really comfy, too). "Good enough is good enough" is one of our guiding principles. And we also tend to follow our impulses to what become our favorite changes in our space--the things we never planned on. So glad to have discovered you this morning!

Thank you, Rita! As an architect, I wish I could spend a month in every home I renovate, to really get to know the space and the folks living there, so that I can design for others by "following my impulses"!

I love the theme of this post and LOVE your blog! So glad to find you via AptTherapy today. Looking forward to reading more of your posts. Cheers, from a former Alamo Square resident + fellow (former) dancer!

Hi Sarah! I am so glad you found me, and now I've found you! I just checked out your blog and it's really good. I saw you miss San Francisco. One day we'll leave and it will be so sad. I'll be checking in on your blog, too. I found a few recipes right off the bat that look fantastic!

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I am an architect, mother, wife and native East Coaster living in San Francisco, and the paper artist behind papel SF. My work can be seen at The Jealous Curator, Colossal, My Modern Metropolis, Apartment Therapy, and the Martha Stewart Living and Williams-Sonoma blogs, among others. Thank you for reading!

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